Kesha Wrote an Essay About Her New Album, “Rainbow”

Kesha’s new album dropped today and so did the title track video, which you can watch here

Her new album chronicles her years of personal and professional hardships. After enduring years of a messy legal and public relations battle with her longtime producer, Dr. Luke, she still remains tied to him in business. She penned a personal essay describing her turmoil and how her new album came to be. In the essay, she writes, “There’s a line in “Rainbow” that I really love: “What’s left of my heart is still made of gold.” I truly believe that. It’s true for me and it can be true for others, too. I know giant pieces of my heart have been held captive in the past. But not anymore. And what’s left is pure gold and no one can touch that.”

“When it finally came time to go into the studio and record “Rainbow,” I knew I wanted to do something special. All I had was this piano vocal that I had recorded myself, but I wanted the song to be orchestral in the same way that the Beach Boys’ album, Pet Sounds, is. Luckily my wonderful, kind, and very good friend Ben Folds agreed to produce and record the song with me. I have been a fan of Ben’s music since I was a kid, and he is a musical genius. We worked out the arrangement together, and then we rented out the biggest room at Capitol Studios in L.A. — the same room Frank Sinatra recorded in — and brought in an orchestra. Ben wanted me to feel that I was worthy of commanding such a room with my voice. His belief in me and encouragement over the past few years has really helped me so much in becoming confident in myself and my voice. It was a big step for me to say, “let’s just go for it,” and record live with an orchestra, because it’s so different from how I have made music in the past. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.”

Unless a settlement or a third-party buyout of Kesha’s contracts occurs, legally, the singer owes Dr. Luke two more albums after “Rainbow.”